900 Pounds Per Acre

That's what I spread on our 40 by 60 foot garden, 900 lbs of 12-12-12 and 900 lbs of pellet lime.  That's the rate per acre of course when you figure a 50 lb bag spread in that area.   My soil test showed our garden is a bit on the low side in calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and potassium.  It needs a good dose of rotted cow manure for the other 13 nutrients if I could talk mom out of a load or two.

I must admit Lerch's barn supply carries Carey Ag Lime.  Just like John Haggard says, it's a little high in magnesium for my needs but it was available, it was cheap, and I needed a lot of calcium and not too much magnesium.  It is 20% calcium and 12% magnesium, which makes it dolomitic.  We get the best response from calcitic limestone here on the glacial moraine.

"Carey Ohio.
Dolomite rock.
Magnesium stone"

The radish greened up quickly of course.  I also spread a bushel of old rye seed from the rodent infested wagon in our barn I need to get rid of.  Maybe I should just pull it over to the garden with the DX-24E and dump a pile in the low spot and let it rot all winter.  It will be a slow rot since winter is colder in temperature.  I can spread some nitrogen on it and cause it to heat up and decompose quicker before we till it all in.  I am not into full notill gardening yet but we get closer all the time.

I sure miss the barn cats but you can't keep a wide eyed German Shepherd who even barks at birds and a barn full of barn cats at the same time.  The mice are taking over again so we need to stay vigilant!

We depend on this garden for a bulk of our day to day food.  We know what is in its soil and we have a good idea what is in the food that comes from it.  It tastes so good and we feel better when we eat it!

Did I do right?  What did you put on your garden spot or are you going to have one next year?

Ed Winkle